Opinicon Revival

When the Opinicon Lodge closed its doors in 2013, I was left wide open for feelings of loss. My family cottage on Lake Opinicon definitely suffered without the dockside gas station of previous owners Al Cross and Janice Jarrett. In fact, my grandfather decided to sell his Mason Lapstrake boat Just Add Water that same year. Although we never rented a room or cabin on the property, the demise of the lodge filled me with nostalgia — and it wasn’t just the ice cream parlour I would miss.

Last fall, I was walking with my girlfriend across the grounds of the grand old dame of the Rideau. The place seemed like a shadow of what it once was. The oaks and maples were as lifeless as the cabins with their flaking paint. We walked past the old stump outside the kitchen door where guests used to bring their fish to be cleaned. I stopped at the dinner bell, but I dared not ring it out of respect. My girlfriend saw me pine for a time she had never known. When we passed the untended garden, I couldn’t even bring myself to sit on the Liar’s Bench in front of the general store where I had enjoyed many an ice cream cone. My mother would always get chocolate, my grandfather maple walnut.

Eighteen months later, new owner Fiona McKean sat on that same bench, bouncing her baby boy, Fraser, on her lap as she explained how she had chosen to take on this huge undertaking.

The work began almost immediately after the 35-year-old bought The Opinicon. McKean and her husband, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke, made the winning bid at the last minute after a single tour of the snow-covered property in December 2014. “We got our occupancy permit for the restaurant two hours before we hosted a prom,” she said. She met her goal of opening by summer 2015 without a moment to spare.

I had read about the young mother from Ottawa who took a leap of faith on the lodge, of how she had fallen in love with the area when her Centretown neighbours took her to their family cottage on Newboro Lake. For young Fiona, the daily highlight of those summers was the visit to the general store at The Opinicon. In 2008, she and Tobi bought a cottage on that same lake.

The Opinicon was always a destination for my family as well. A trip to the store meant black licorice cigars and Hubba Bubba gum. The newspaper was always held for my grandfather on our account, for which he was charged a monthly bill. It’s a charming detail made more so by the fact that the restaurant never accepted credit cards when you paid for a meal. It all went on the family tab.

My Uncle Jim used to regale me with tales of the last managers, Al and Janice, who were running the show when he spent two summers working there. He would sprint across the hillside resort whenever Mr. Cross howled his name, in need of a dock boy to fetch ice or to carry someone’s bags.

Guests in the dining room enjoyed such scenes from the screened-in porch during their lavish five-course meals. They wouldn’t be sipping on wine or beer or highballs because the lodge didn’t have a liquor licence, but they could relish the bustling hospitality.

It’s that lively racket that locals are keen to see return to the property. Once the work to reopen The Opinicon began in earnest, it wasn’t long before old employees and locals began to flood in with questions, hankering for a chance to snoop around.

Would there be a general store? Would there be a bait shop? When would they be open for business, and how much would it cost to rent a room?

Fiona didn’t have all the answers, but one thing was certain: the ice cream store would return. “We’ll stock up on some basics for boaters and guests who forgot things at home, but nothing so extensive as a general store. Our ice cream parlour will house those, as well as good coffee and fresh baked goods from our kitchen.”

While it will take years for the lodge to become a destination once more, it has already become a go-to spot for nearby families. Locals from Chaffey’s Locks and Elgin who used to help run the resort have returned to their posts. The 50-some full- and parttime employees have found in Fiona a leader who will balance the past and the present by highlighting the old charms while she introduces her own brand of resort management.

Some of these changes might have been too much for the patrons of yesteryear. The owners will now accept major credit cards, and if Fiona has her way, the embargo on alcohol will be lifted. A pub on the premises by next year is the short-term goal. Long-term plans call for a microbrewery and a German-inspired beer garden.

Still, Fiona remains unassuming. “It doesn’t really feel like mine yet,” she said. “I’ve always felt like more of a patron of the place and less like an owner. The feeling I have is that I’m just the latest in a chain of people who have dedicated themselves to keeping the place alive and thriving.”

When I heard that, my nostalgia faded and my admiration began. Joseph Mathieu is a bilingual freelance writer and editor based in Oxford Mills. If he ever got a part-time job at The Opinicon, he would commute by canoe.